President Barack Obama took no action when Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid twice approached the White House to seek the commander in chief's public commitment to veto any U.N. resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state,
Politico reports.
The requests, delivered to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, came as Reid attempted to gain Democratic support for the Iran nuclear deal.
"If Obama explicitly sided with Israel against the possible U.N. resolution, Reid's thinking went, it would give nervous Democrats cover to back the Iran deal, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vocally protested," Politico's John Bresnahan and Edward-Issac Dovere write.
"The repeated requests by Reid and Obama's unwillingness to make a statement on the issue — confirmed by White House officials and Senate aides — highlights how wide the gulf between the Obama administration and Israeli government has become."
According to Politico, longtime U.S. policy has been that any Security Council resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state would be vetoed.
However, the White House was "infuriated" by Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress, in which the Israeli leader called the nuclear deal a "very bad deal."
Netanyahu is set to meet with Obama next month and the White House and Democratic lawmakers hope the leaders get past any bad feelings.
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